Thompson School sale for housing in West Haven sparks controversy

$10 Thompson School sale for housing sparks controversy

WEST HAVEN >> The City Council, in a split 7-5 vote, voted late Monday to sell the former Thompson School on Richard Street to the West Haven Housing Authority for $10.

Several City Council members expressed misgivings about the low price, which some said raised sour memories of the city’s controversial sales of the former Giannotti and First Avenue schools and State Armory for a combined $100,000 in the 1980s.

They also criticized the comparative lack of public notice — the agenda hadn’t been posted online as of Monday morning — and what they called an insufficient opportunity for public input.

“Before the city signs over the property, I would just like to see the city hold some sort of public hearing,” said Councilwoman Stacy Riccio, D-4, in whose district the building is located.

Councilman Sean Ronan, D-9, who was chairman of the Council-of-the-Whole that heard the issue, said people would have the opportunity to comment on anything the Housing Authority might propose when it went before the Planning & Zoning Commission.

But that didn’t satisfy Riccio.

“I’m not comfortable with that,” she said. “Most of my constituents are not aware of it...

“I live in the district,” Stacy Riccio said. “Those are the people who vote me in or out. I would like for them at least to have some input.”

The Housing Authority plans to team up in a joint venture with a private entity and build a 56-unit complex for elderly, disabled and veteran residents, using tax credits as a development vehicle, said Housing Authority Executive Director John Counter.

The Housing Authority currently has a four-year waiting list, and while the competition for Connecticut Housing Finance Authority funds is fierce, “the state sees that we have a huge demand for elderly/disabled/veterans housing,” Counter said.

While much of what the Housing Authority manages is tax-exempt, this complex would pay taxes — about $80,000 a year, he said.

Those voting against were Council members Ron Quagliani, D-at-large; David Riccio, R-at-large; Stacy Riccio, D-4; Robin Watt Hamilton, D-5, and Louise Martone, D-10.

Councilman David Russell, D-7, was absent.

While its economic model, paired with a private developer, would be along similar lines to the Meadow Landing Apartments, which the authority now manages, the complex’s tenant mix would be similar to the Union Avenue Apartment in the former Union School, Counter told the council.

While Mayor Ed O’Brien in 2014 had included Thompson among three closed schools (along with Stiles and Blake) that the city planned to sell to fill holes in the then-proposed 2014-15 budget, Commissioner of Economic Development Joseph Riccio Jr. said that as it turned out, the building had a “negative value” because of the need for asbestos abatement, and nobody wanted it.

“When I came over” to work for the city, “there was an offer on the table for Thompson School,” Joseph Riccio said. “Unfortunately, at that time, the city didn’t have an accurate assessment about how much abatement would be needed”

When it hired an environmental firm, it turned out that $1.7 million in abatement work was needed, he said.

“After that, the developer who was interested said they would not be interested,” Joseph Riccio said.

He said of the Housing Authority’s offer, “I think it’s a fairly simple deal” and with the building’s negative value, “the only entity that I think is going to be able to make this work I think is a government entity.”

Counter told the council that what he was looking for was the ability to take the project to the next level and seek funding that there’s no guarantee of receiving.

“We can’t go and make an application without showing that we have site control,” he said. Architects “won’t start the drawings unless we have site control...

“We think we can be of use to the city and get that piece of property back on the tax rolls ...” he said. “If there’s somebody else that you all are interested in ... if you don’t feel that elderly/disabled/veterans that pay property taxes are the best use,” he urged them to entertain other offers.

But Joseph Riccio told the council it was “unlikely that someone is going to want to come in and acquire that building, especially with the amount of asbestos abatement that’s going to be needed.”

“We know we need more senior housing,” said Quagliani. “We just want to make sure that’s what this is.”

Counter said that 50 of the 56 units would be one-bedroom apartments, with six two-bedroom units.

“We really can’t provide housing for anyone but seniors, disabled, vets in one-bedrooms,” he said, but “one of the things you can’t do is you can’t separate out anyone who receives (social security) as their sole source of income.”

Morrissey said that in West Haven, “our seniors really have nowhere else to go ... 4 1/2 years is too long” to be on a waiting list, she said.

David Riccio, the only member of the council who was in office in 1983 when the city sold First Avenue and Giannotti schools and the armory for $100,000, said that selling Thompson for $10 “is a slap in the face of every resident in the city of West Haven.

“It’s ridiculous and it’s also an insult to all of the residents,” said Riccio, who is planning to seek the Republican nomination for mayor next year.

He told Mayor O’Brien, “you ran three years ago on ‘No more housing for the city of West Haven...’ and since then, we’ve seen nothing but housing... I think we need to bring in businesses.

“I sat on the council in 1983 that made a bad decision,” Riccio said. “I’m sitting on another council right now that’s making another bad decision — and I am not going to vote for it.”

Stacy Riccio also made reference to the sale of Giannotti, First Avenue and the Armory for $100,000 — and how mad that made people at the time.

“Here we’re selling a school for $10,” she said.

But Ruickoldt said, “It’s my understanding that this is nothing more than an option” and the Housing Authority may not even get the funding to make it happen.

Housing Authority Chairman John O’Connor, addressing the council, said, “I don’t see how this isn’t a win-win situation for the city and for the Housing Authority — a building that’s sat vacant for the last six years ... that no one seems to want ...

“I can’t see how a neighborhood would rather have vacant building in their neighborhood ... rather than putting 56 families” in homes, O’Connor said.

Mayor O’Brien said that in discussions about the proposed sale, “I’ve been saying that people are going to crucify me because of (comparisons to) Giannotti and the State Armory ... when we should be comparing it to the Union School...

“It’s not ‘affordable housing,’” O’Brien said. “It’s seniors who are on a fixed income.”

Said Forsyth: It’s not for the outsiders. It’s for people in the city of West Haven ... So I’m all in favor of this right now.”

Counter addresses the Council

Media: New Haven Register

West Haven Housing Authority Executive Director John Counter, left, and city Commissioner of Economic Development Joseph Riccio Jr. address the West Haven City Council Monday night regarding the proposed sale of the former Thompson School for $10. less

West Haven Housing Authority Executive Director John Counter, left, and city Commissioner of Economic Development Joseph Riccio Jr. address the West Haven City Council Monday night regarding the proposed sale ... more

Photo: Mark Zaretsky - New Haven Register

Photo: Mark Zaretsky - New Haven Register

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West Haven Housing Authority Executive Director John Counter, left, and city Commissioner of Economic Development Joseph Riccio Jr. address the West Haven City Council Monday night regarding the proposed sale of the former Thompson School for $10. less

West Haven Housing Authority Executive Director John Counter, left, and city Commissioner of Economic Development Joseph Riccio Jr. address the West Haven City Council Monday night regarding the proposed sale ... more